Telemark Co. v. Wisconsin Dept. of Taxation
| Decision Date | 02 November 1965 |
| Citation | 137 N.W.2d 407,28 Wis.2d 637 |
| Parties | The TELEMARK COMPANY, Inc., a Wisconsin corporation, Petitioner-Appellant, v. WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION, Respondent. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
The appellant The Telemark Company, Inc. (Telemark) filed with the respondent Wisconsin Department of Taxation (department) a claim for a refund of taxes paid in the sum of $1,202.89 upon its receipts for the month of December, 1963, from the sale of tickets for the use of its rope tows and T-bar lifts at its ski resort in Bayfield county. The claim was denied by the department and the appellant filed a petition for review with the Board of Tax Appeals and requested it be transferred to the circuit court for Dane county because no question of fact was involved. The petition for review was so transferred and the circuit court affirmed the decision of the department. From the judgment of the circuit court, Telemark appeals.
LaFollette, Sinykin, Anderson, Davis & Abrahamson, Madison, Robert H. Friebert, Madison, of counsel, for appellant.
Bronson C. La Follette, Atty. Gen., Harold H. Persons, E. Weston Wood, Asst. Attys. Gen., Madison, for respondent.
The facts are not in dispute and raise the sole question of whether the gross income received by Telemark from furnishing rides on ski tows is taxable as the furnishing for a fee the privilege of having access to or the use of a recreational facility within the meaning of sec. 77.52(2)(a) 2, Stats.
Telemark does business in Bayfield county where it owns 90 acres of land consisting of 10 slopes which it maintains for sking during the winter months including the operation of an artificial-snow-making system. Besides three T-bar lifts and 10 rope tows to assist skiers to get from the bottom to the top of the slopes, Telemark operates a parking lot and owns a chalet which is rented out to an operator. No fee is made for parking automobiles in its supervised parking lot or for admission to the chalet or for admission to the recreational area. However, Telemark does charge for the use of the rope tows and T-bar lifts on a daily basis by selling colorful-large-size tickets which are attached to the outside of the garments of skiers. On peak days it employs as many as 40 persons as parking-lot attendants and as mechanics and attendants for the rope tows and T-bar lifts. Three ticket offices are operated, one in the parking lot, one between the parking lot and the chalet and one in the chalet. Skiers are not required to purchase daily tickets in order to use the slopes for skiing but few people do not buy tickets because of the difficulty of getting up the slopes without the mechanical assistance furnished. Telemark prevents persons not having tickets from using the ski tows.
By sec. 77.52(2), Stats., Wisconsin imposed a selective-three-percent-sales tax upon the sale of, the performing or furnishing certain types of services at retail. Subsection (2)(a) 2, pertinent to this case, provides 'The sale of admissions to places of amusement, athletic entertainment or recreational events or places and the furnishing, for dues, fees or other considerations, the privilege of access to clubs or the privilege of having access to or the use of amusement, entertainment, athletic or recreational facilities.' In considering this section the trial court in its written opinion stated, We agree.
Telemark argues a ski-tow ride is not amusing, entertaining, athletic or recreational and the ski tow itself is not a facility but merely a transportation device. Without personal experience or testimony on the point, we cannot vouch for the non amusing, entertaining or athletic qualities of a ski-tow ride, and while the rope tow or T-bar lift furnishes transportation in a sense, it does not because of that quality...
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